Imagine you are at the edge of the sea on a day when it is difficult to say where the land ends and the sea begins and where the sea ends and the sky begins. Sea kayaking lets you explore these and your own boundaries and broadens your horizons. Sea kayaking is the new mountaineering.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Glorious Dorus Day!

Today it was glorious in the west of Scotland.

It was 2 days after springs so we decided to take two little runs through the Dorus Mor tide race while it was going full tilt. With this tidal assistance we had a very easy 30km day (and all two and a half hours from home).

5 comments:

Hi Douglas,You sure live in a great place! I heard so much enthusiast stories about the Scottish West-Coast, and it looks so fantastic on your pictures, that I appetised my kayak-buddy Govert for a paddle in Scotland this year. We will spent two weeks in Scotland in May/June. So now I am reading your blog with even more interest! Preparing for this holiday, the hardest thing is to make choices: there are so many great kayak sites in your "little paradise"! Where to start? Oban is quit central located and must be a good location for a "base camp". What are your top 3 recommendations for a 10 days paddling in this region?greetings, Hans

Hello Hans, I hope you have a great visit. Sadly I will not be about that fortnight as I am in Jersey end may and St Kilda beginning June! :o)

Oban would be a good central base and from there for week one

I would suggest taking the ferry to Mull and paddling its west coast round Ulva/Staffa/Treshnish/Wilderness of Mull.

I would then paddle or drive round to the Ross of Mull and explore its north and south coasts and Iona. We spent 7 days doing that last year. Note that I have not suggested the circumnavigation of Mull, doing so you would miss so much.

2nd week, if you have not dallied on Mull. leave car at Craobh Haven Marina south of Oban paddle south through Dorus Mor into Loch Craignish explore islands then south to Dana and McCormaig Islands across sound of Jura to Tarbert on Jura portage with good trolleys across to west loch tarbert then up west coast Jura east through corryvreckan back west throgh grey dogs then out to Garvellachs then Seil SE through Cuan sound back to Craobh haven. This is a very tidal area and will be highly dependent on weather but there are lots of sheltered alternatives.

Hello Douglas, Just had a good look through your fantastic photographs!!! Many thanks for making the effort to let others see them.The ones of in and around the Isle of Mull are simply amazing,Mull is the best place on earth! The picture of your approach to the fossil tree was majestic what a wonderful place and also a wonderful way to explore these remote areas. I would love to have a go at sea kayaking but can't even swim so that's a bit of a drawback! The sense of adventure comes across in your photography ,it looks wonderful.Needless to say the site has been bookmarked and hopefully more stories and photos will appear.Thanks for sharing these special times.

Hans I wish you a fair weather visit and a light breeze to keep the midges at bay!

:o)

David it is very good to hear from you. I do enjoy sharing the Scottish countryside with people. It sort of started in 1982. I work with young people with muscular dystrophy and a young chap called Andrew who could not even walk asked me to take his camera to the top of a mountain so he could see what it was like. I climbed Stob Coire Sgreamhach in Glencoe on a clear day. I took a whole B&W film which he got his sister to stick together as a panorama. He was very very pleased but sadly he died a few months later.